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QAnon: Moving into Mainstream

Since late 2017, the QAnon conspiracy theory has evolved from a series of 4chan posts to a following of hundreds of thousands worldwide that believe President Donald Trump is waging a secret war against Satan-worshipping pedophiles in media, politics, and Hollywood. In 2019, the FBI described “Q” supporters as a domestic terrorism threat. QAnon supporters use various social platforms to coordinate online campaigns and spread disinformation and conspiracy theories to a global audience.

In this report, ActiveFence shares a glimpse into QAnon forums and groups to provide insight into their global networks, beliefs, and tactics, and to track migration across platforms.

Portrait of Gideon Freud, author on the ActiveFence blog
Gideon Freud

Gideon is a Senior Intelligence Writer at ActiveFence. He graduated from Oxford University in 2012, where he studied social and cultural anthropology with a special focus on the growth of political extremism in Europe. He joined ActiveFence in January 2021, and is interested in researching the development of national laws focused on regulating online activities.